China’s ’Lipstick King’ named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People

China’s ’lipstick king’ Li Jiaqi - also known as Austin Li - has been acknowledged by Time Magazine as being one of the emerging Top 100 Most Influential People in recognition of his personal achievements in China’s e-commerce livestreaming. Li is an official partner of Meione, an innovative e-commerce company based in Shanghai.

China’s booming e-commerce

The annual Time 100 Next list highlights 100 of the top emerging leaders from around the world. As an extension of the Time 100 Most Influential People list, Next is about celebrating people who are shaping the future.

"It excites me greatly that through my efforts, more and more people are being exposed to China’s booming e-commerce industry," said Li, one of the China’s leading e-commerce live streamers.

The list places individuals into five categories of ’artist’, ’phenoms’, ’leaders’, ’advocates’, and ’innovators’; Li was recognized as an ’innovator’. Li’s achievements in e-commerce live-streaming are virtually unparalleled. Known for his charismatic personality, Li is recognized as being an authoritative figure in the beauty industry whose opinions and recommendations hold weight and influence the purchasing decisions of millions.

Record online sales

In 2018, he appeared side-by-side with and then outsold Jack Ma at Alibaba’s ’Ten Years, Ten People’ event, selling 15,000 lipsticks in just five minutes. Then, in 2019, he helped drive $US145 million in sales on e-retailer Taobao during China’s Singles’ day shopping extravaganza. He holds the Guinness World Record for ’The most lipstick applications in 30 seconds’ and has appeared alongside many A-list celebrities and news commentators, bridging the gap between traditional media and social media.

Throughout 2020, Li focused his attention and reach on helping China cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with state media representatives to promote local products from hard-hit Wuhan and stimulate the city’s struggling economy, Li helped raise CNY70 million on Chinese New Year’s Eve to aid rural farmers and entire communities.